Cambridge GaN Devices launches first Gallium Nitride products

Cambridge GaN Devices has emerged from stealth mode to announce the launch of its first portfolio of products capable of reducing power losses by up to 50 per cent.

The fables semiconductor company made its debut appearance at APEC (Applied Power Electronics Conference) in Houston, Texas, where it launched the ICeGaN 650 V H1 series comprising four 650 V products that utilise the power of Gallium Nitride-based technology.

Spun out of Cambridge University, Cambridge GaN Devices was founded by Dr Giorgia Longobardi and Prof Florin Udrea to bring innovation to everyday life by delivering effortless energy efficient GaN technology solutions. The fast-growing company has spent the past six years in R&D to design, develop and commercialise game-changing products that tackle some of the world’s most pressing energy consumption challenges.

Since 2016 the company has built a portfolio of 39 patents and applications, 20 of which are distinctive inventions, focused on faster, smaller and more economical devices designed to drive widespread adoption of GaN technology in consumer electronics and beyond in a power semiconductor market estimated to be worth over $50bn by 2027. In 2021 the company raised £9.5m in a Series A funding round.

The 650 V H1 product series represents Cambridge GaN’s commercial launch and is an industry first, enabling the use of standard MOSFET drivers and no external components needed for protection. Engineers will be able to use Cambridge GaN Devices’s GaN-based technology in applications currently run with silicon-based devices or with other GaN solutions.

Dr Giorgia Longobardi, CEO and co-founder of Cambridge GaN Devices, said: “We’re excited to be unveiling CGD’s first products to the market. Our GaN-based technology makes a difficult engineering challenge easy while operating at a high level of efficiency. This is due to the team’s expertise in GaN and our profound knowledge of the material, the device physics, as well as our deep understanding of market requirements.

“Sustainability is a core tenet of our business and we are always researching innovative solutions with the aim of continuously lowering power losses in the electronic power industry to benefit a wide community of customers and end users. We’re extremely committed to not only delivering a green product, but to be a company that has embedded sustainability in its own culture with the entire team dedicated to the journey ahead.”

Prof Florin Udrea, CTO and co-founder of Cambridge GaN Devices, added: “I have been working on power semiconductor devices for over three decades. My research at Cambridge University and with various companies has been focused on diverse materials such as silicon, gallium nitride, silicon carbide and diamonds and a variety of devices from HEMTs to IGBTs and from Superjunctions to FinFETs. There have been many wrong prognostics regarding the development of wide bandgap products. But this time it is different: the time for GaN is now. The uptake in the market will be exponential for at least the next decade.”

Andrea Bricconi, VP of business development, said: “The ICeGaN™ 650 V H1 series is focused on making life easier for all those who have been trying to design-in GaN transistors and have dedicated significant R&D effort to figure out how to drive them. These four products can be seamlessly interfaced with gate drivers which make ICeGaN-based GaN HEMTs easy to use, like a Silicon MOSFET. No additional components are needed to drive ICeGaN, no clamping diodes for protection, no negative voltages are needed to TurnOFF the power transistor, and still the highest performance levels are guaranteed by GaN intrinsic properties. The wide range of RdsON, from 55 mΩ to 200 mΩ, are offered in two of the most popular SMD packages, DFN5x6 and DFN8x8 which make the portfolio perfectly suited for most low and mid power SMPS applications, while specific IC and packages solutions for high power markets are in preparation.”

CGD’s long term product strategy is also supported by several multi-partner UK and EU-funded projects, the latest being ICeData, an initiative aiming to develop and commercialise highly efficient GaN-based ICs for use in data centre server power supplies. This specific project is funded by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) within the Energy Entrepreneur Fund which has selected leading UK technologies providing solutions for energy efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions.

Originally published here.